Parkland student activists Sofie Whitney and Ryan Deitsch visit Yale campus to speak about community organizing around the broader issue of a "culture of violence". Interview with Richard Hill, WPKN Radio producer (6:12) April 24, 2018

Three-part excerpts from Avi Chomsky's presentations at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Day of Action on April 17. Includes a historical perspective as well as a question and answer session with immigrants. Recorded and produced by Chuck Rosina, long-time public affairs and news producer at WMBR FM, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's radio station in Cambridge, Massachusetts. April 17, 2018

Chuck Rosina's report on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Day of Action on April 17, where members of the MIT and broader local community were given an opportunity to devote the day to engaging with the political, economic, environmental and social challenges facing us today, through learning, discussion, reflection and planning for action. Includes comments from Avi Chomsky, daughter of the renowned professor Noam Chomsky (12:58) April 17, 2018

Tyler Suarez, lead organizer of the March for Our Lives demo in Hartford, CT on March 24, assesses the event attended by 10,000 and discusses the agenda for the youth movement going forward. Interviewed by Richard Hill.

Michael Zweig, economist and labor historian, unpacks the Supreme Court case Janus vs. AFSCME and
places it in the context of the history of American labor struggles since the 19th century. He also analyzes the extraordinary West Virginia teachers' strike and what it might portend for labor militancy going forward.

Zweig is professor emeritus at Stonybrook University, former director of the Center for the Study of Working
Class Life, and author of What's Class Got to Do With It? American Society in the Twenty-first Century)
Interviewed by Richard Hill. March 6, 2018.

Are private water companies free to bottle and export Connecticut's water?
Judy Allen, from Save Our Water Connecticut (SaveOurWaterct.org) explains the vulnerability of Connecticut's water to private interests and suggests remedies. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

Doria Robinson, executive director of Urban Tilth, a food justice project based in Richmond, California, describes her work creating a democratic food production and distribution network in that working class community. Doria argues that there can be no end to hunger and deprivation without a
radical economic transformation. Check out her work at urbantilth.org and foodfirst.org Interview by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

Award-winning Investigative Journalist Robert Parry (1949-2018)

Award-winning investigative journalist and founder/editor of ConsortiumNews.com, Robert Parry has passed away. His ground-breaking work uncovering Reagan-era dirty wars in Central America and many other illegal and immoral policies conducted by successive administrations and U.S. intelligence agencies, stands as an inspiration to all in journalists working in the public interest.

Robert had been a regular guest on our Between The Lines and Counterpoint radio shows -- and many other progressive outlets across the U.S. over four decades.

Jennifer Siskind, local coordinator for Food and Water Watch, describes the campaign to stop fracking waste in Connecticut, which so far has led to fracking waste bans in 34 towns around the state.
Interviewed by Richard Hill on Mic Check, WPKN Radio, Bridgeport, CT

Lindsay Kanaly
The panel discusses Trump's long history of racism and the Republican voter suppression juggernaut confronting Democrats leading up to the 2018 elections. Special guest: Lindsay Kanaly, a lead organizer of the Women's Marches planned for Jan. 20, 2018. Panel: Scott Harris, Ruthanne Baumgartner and Richard Hill on Resistance Roundtable, WPKN Radio, Bridgeport, CT.

Nina Turner, president of Our Revolution, talks about the fight ahead for progressives as she receives the Working Families Organization Award for Exceptional Leadership Towards Advancing Progress. The event was held in Meriden, CT.
Produced by Richard Hill.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mic Check, Dec. 12, 2017

Working Families Party of CT talks strategy and issues for 2018.Lindsay Farrell, executive director of the Working Families Party of Connecticut, discusses the state's electoral landscape and lays out the issues and strategies that could lead to progressive victories in 2018. Interviewed by Richard Hill.

SPECIAL REPORT: On Tyranny - one year later, Nov. 28, 2017

Professor Timothy Snyder, author of the highly acclaimed resistance manual On Tyranny,
discusses his book and offers a fresh assessment of the state of our beleaguered republic. Timothy Snyder, history professor at Yale, is introduced by Stanley Heller, administrator of Promoting Enduring Peace, a Connecticut-based organization that sponsored this event at the United Church Parish House in New Haven on Nov. 28. A brief interview with Snyder conducted by WPKN radio producer, Richard Hill, follows his talk.

SPECIAL REPORT: Resistance Roundtable, Nov. 11, 2017

Focus on the Republican tax plan, the just-released autopsy on the Democratic Party, and Internet censorship by Google, Facebook and Youtube. Including an interview with Hilary Grant, a lead organizer with Action Together Connecticut, who discusses the local results of the recent election, with hosts Richard Hill, Scott Harris and Ruth Baumgartner WPKN producers

SPECIAL REPORT: Resisting U.S. JeJu Island military base in South Korea, Oct. 24, 2017

Joyakol, South Korean peace activist and singer, discusses the crisis on the Korean peninsula and focuses on the resistance to the U.S. huge military base being constructed on Jeju Island. The event was sponsored by the Greater New Haven Peace Council and this audio was recorded by Richard Hill, WPKN producer.

SPECIAL REPORT: John Allen, Out in New Haven

John Allen, founding director of the New Haven Pride Center, Connecticut, talks about his new LGBTQ television show, Out in New Haven, which presents a range of political and cultural issues to the community. Interviewed by Richard Hill on WPKN's Rainy Day Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2018.

JEREMY SCAHILL: Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker "Dirty Wars"

Listen to the full interview (30:33) with Jeremy Scahill, an award-winning investigative journalist with the Nation Magazine, correspondent for Democracy Now! and author of the bestselling book, "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army," about America's outsourcing of its military. In an exclusive interview with Counterpoint's Scott Harris on Sept. 16, 2013, Scahill talks about his latest book, "Dirty Wars, The World is a Battlefield," also made into a documentary film under the same title, and was nominated Dec. 5, 2013 for an Academy Award in the Best Documentary Feature category.

Listen to Scott Harris Live on WPKN Radio

Between The Lines' Executive Producer Scott Harris hosts a live,
weekly talk show, Counterpoint, from which some of Between The Lines'
interviews are excerpted. Listen every Monday evening from 8 to 10 p.m.
EDT at www.WPKN.org
(Follows the 5-7 minute White Rose Calendar.)

Counterpoint in its entirety is archived after midnight ET
Monday nights,
and is available for at least a year following broadcast in
WPKN Radio's Archives.

Stay connected to BTL

New Trump Election Integrity Commission a "Sham"

Posted May 17, 2017

Interview with Jenny Flanagan, vice president for state operations with Common Cause, conducted by Scott Harris

Not long after the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump declared that he would have won the national popular vote and not merely by the Electoral College, if it hadn’t been for millions of illegal votes cast by non-citizens in several states. In fact, Trump lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton by some three million votes and his repeated charge of widespread voter fraud across the U.S. has been debunked by numerous investigations and academic research.

Now in the wake of the controversy generated by Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey, the president has signed an executive order establishing a presidential commission to examine "election integrity," based on his bogus assertions of voter fraud. The commission will be chaired by Vice President Mike Pence and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach will serve as vice chair. Both these Republican politicians have a long history of supporting voter suppression measures that make it more difficult for specific groups of voters to cast ballots, groups that generally support Democratic candidates.

Since 2010, nearly two dozen Republican-controlled state governments have enacted an assortment of new voter suppression laws, many of which have been struck down by federal courts deeming them to be designed to gain partisan political advantage. Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with Jenny Flanagan, vice president for state operations with Common Cause. Here, she examines Trump's false premise for creating the "election integrity" commission, and the danger of the panel being used as a "Trojan Horse" to justify new voter suppression measures. [Rush transcript]

JENNY FLANAGAN:
There's been a lot of research and I think, notably, to stand up to what Trump and other Republicans are saying, the investigation that took place under the Bush administration – George W. Bush – also led an investigation searching. This commission seeks, too, for that needle in the haystack of some indication of non-citizens voting in our elections. And they didn't find it. The Brennan Center also conducted years-long surveys of election challenges where voters may have been subject to claims of voter fraud or wrongful voting. It is more likely to be struck by lightning than it is for someone to have committed voter fraud in this country. It's just not happening.

But it is rhetoric that moves people. Most Americans find that it is easy to vote. They make their registration when they go to the motor vehicle office; they know where their polling place is. And for most Americans that's a wonderful thing. But for many Americans, particularly those who are disenfranchised historically, in all aspects of our society – who may not drive and have that driver's license who are in and out of homes and moving locations frequently – for those individuals, it's more difficult to track down the rules and requirements in order to access your vote. And they're capitalizing on those challenges instead of making it easier.

BETWEEN THE LINES:
Jenny, given the fact that Republican-controlled state governments across the country have invoked these voter suppression tactics deemed as such by federal courts, highly partisan laws that try to gain political advantage for Republican candidates – given that fact, what is the ultimate objective of this commission in your view? Is the fact that Donald Trump invoked this panel to look at voter fraud mean that the objective possibly could be to justify more repressive voter measures – make it increasingly more difficult for particular groups of voters to cast ballots in future elections?

JENNY FLANAGAN:
Absolutely. All signs are pointing in that direction. And that's why we call it a sham. To put these two individuals, Mike Pence and Kris Kobach, who are both known to support these voter suppression laws in charge of a commission aimed at "voting integrity"? I think the American public need to look much more closely at what integrity means to them. To us, voter integrity means that every eligible voter can cast their ballot and have it counted accurately with confidence. And with Russian interference in our elections, there were a lot of doubts going into the 2016 election, as there continue to be doubts in terms of what kind of interference took place, whether or not on our voting equipment or trying to influence our elections in other ways. And we deserve better than that as citizens of this country. We deserve voting systems that are modern and up to date. And that's why we're working with election officials all across the country.

BETWEEN THE LINES:
One last question for you, Jenny. There are efforts across the country to push back in another direction. There's automatic registration as many countries across Europe have – when you're born or get a driver's license, or become of majority age, you are automatically registered to vote. Here, there's a lot of games involved in political partisanship that goes into a lot of the regulations around registering to vote. But maybe you can conclude here by telling us how people can push back against these voter suppression laws, and certainly resist what recommendations are likely to come out of this presidential election integrity commission.

JENNY FLANAGAN:
Automatic voter registration is moving in dozens of states across the country with bipartisanship support because there are more convenient, more cost-effective ways to register voters with integrity. I'm not afraid of that word. We should have integrity in our voting system. And we can do it with Democrats and Republicans alike. People who really do care about our democracy. Reforms are moving likewise, reforms like combining vote by mail with in-person voting. There are real solutions out there that election officials and civic engagement leaders and elected officials in state legislatures are advancing to make reforms.

I think the most important thing that people can do is just keep the pressure on contacting your lawmaker whether they're a Democrat or a Republican, everybody's got a role to play to stand up for our democracy. And if we lose our right to vote, that is a right through which all other rights flow. This is a civil rights issue, it is a social justice issue, it is really the fundamental core of being American – to be able participate in our democracy through voting. So it is really critical that we continue to speak up on behalf of all Americans.